Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

Gem & Mineral Hall  

 

Me at the Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum in LA has many different exhibits, from the 'Dino Lab', to 'Becoming LA', to the 'Age of Mammals'. But my favorite room would have to be the Gem & Mineral Hall, especially as the subject pertains to the concepts we have learned in this course.

The use of minerals to create art has been around since prehistoric times, as cave painters used substances like iron oxide, manganese, and charcoal to leave their mark on the world. As history progressed, man continued to be fascinated by the natural beauty that exists in gem and mineral form, and attempted to harness that in their artwork. People have always had a desire for beautiful and shiny things, and thus humans took on the challenge of learning how to create tools to shape these impossibly hard materials into jewelry and decoration.

Jadeite vases from late 19th century China

This reminded me of the core of this class, how science and art intersect. Here, people have taken naturally occurring objects and compounds and used them to create works of art, having invented tools like diamond cutters to shape them or figured out how to melt or cut them down, and used the objects themselves to create art.

Nephrite art--18th century China

I think it’s very interesting how people assign value to certain things found in nature, but not to others. For instance, there was an extensive display dedicated to gold and the gold rush, and how people have long traded and fought over/for this precious metal. While this has been valued, other substances, like pyrite, have been largely ignored—a shiny mineral for children to marvel at on the beach, and not much more. I find it fascinating that humans choose what they think is valuable based upon its beauty and scarcity, rather than its practicality and usefulness. I think this too connects to all types of values in society, and reveals a lot about human nature--why beauty and entertainment are often seen as more desirable than practicality.

Gold nuggets! Inspiration for the Gold Rush

The mineral, gemstone and jewelry display’s popularity taught me a lot about what people still value and have always valued. As far as art and science go, their intersection in the case of precious gems and minerals will likely continue—even in our technological world, diamond and gold are still the preferred type of engagement/wedding rings, and the most expensive adornments are still made of these naturally occurring compounds. This exhibit taught me that, as with most science and art, technological advances will not change what humans find fundamentally valuable.